


Live Forever

by liberallesbian37



Series: Project Team Beta's 2013 Writing Challenge [9]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 12:47:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/735846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liberallesbian37/pseuds/liberallesbian37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of hiding, Natalie is ready to face her fears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Live Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge Number/Title: #9/End it with...  
> Date Posted: 3/25/13  
> Fandom: Original Fiction  
> Rating: M  
> Genre: (AH, AU, Canon, RPF) Romance/Hurt comfort  
> Content Descriptors: (Fluff, Comedy, Slavery, Rape, BDSM, etc.) Non descriptive physical and sexual abuse.  
> Character Pairing: Original female/original female
> 
> *I own this storyline and these characters. Please do not redistribute this content anywhere. Thank you.

                “Babe? Are you sure you want to do this?” Sofia asked her girlfriend, turning to look at her.

                Twenty-one-year-old Natalie nodded from the passenger seat. “I am if you are,” she replied.

                Sofia squeezed Natalie’s hand softly, sensing her nervousness. Natalie hadn’t been to an amusement park in the nearly five years since she’d moved out of her mother’s house.

                “We don’t have to. We can just go to a movie or something, if you’d rather. It won’t bother me.” She kissed Natalie on the nose.

                “I want to. I need to. Just… Stay close to me?” Her voice was small, almost childlike.

                Sofia smiled warmly. “Of course, baby. I’ll be right there next to you the whole time. And if you decide you want to leave, we’ll leave. No explanation necessary.”

                Natalie returned a small smile of her own. “Come on. Let’s go,” she said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Once out of the car, she slipped her hand into Sofia’s.

                “Where do you want to start?” Sofia asked after they bought their tickets.

                Natalie squinted at the map. Roller coasters were easy to identify, but the rest of the rides were a mystery. What the hell was a Caterpillar or an Octopus?

                “I have no idea, Sof. What’s your favorite ride?” she asked, still looking at the puzzle of a map.

                Sofia thought for a moment before breaking out in a grin. “Are you opposed to roller coasters?”

                “No, I’m not opposed. I’m just a bit scared, but I want to try!” she exclaimed with a cheeriness that Sofia recognized as false.       

                She stopped walking and pulled Natalie to a bench. “Lee. We do not have to do this. You don’t have to put on a front for me. I know you, and I love you. If this is too much—”

                “Stop. I need to work through this. I haven’t really talked about it to anyone except you. And now I need to actually work through it instead of just talking. I’m ready for it,” she insisted with a small smile, trying to convey her feeling without words. She had to do it. She had to find something new to associate amusement parks with besides pain. And most of all, she HAD to beat him. Some day she needed to be able to say he didn’t control her actions anymore. If she and Sofia ever had children, she needed to be able to take them out for the day and hold their hand while the rode rides.

                Sofia seemed to understand, and after a moment of hesitation, she stood up. “Come on, let’s go find a roller coaster.” She glanced at the map before grabbing Natalie’s hand and leading her to a tall structure call “Cyclone.”

                Natalie’s eyes widened slightly, but followed her girlfriend. It was the middle of the week in spring, and the park was nearly empty, so it didn’t take long for the two women to reach the front of the line.

                                “Are you sure?” Sofia asked again.

                                Natalie nodded. The park attendant watched them as they sat in the car before carefully fastening the safety belt.

                Natalie inhaled sharply and gripped Sofia’s hand tightly as the car began to move. She squeezed her eyes shut. The rush down the track was the strangest thing she’d ever felt. She wasn’t terrified, as she had been with her step father so many years ago. She was afraid, but felt safe. Almost too soon, the ride was over.

                “Oh my god! That was the biggest rush I’ve ever felt in my life!” Natalie exclaimed three and a half minutes later. Her hair had been blown around and she resembled Cousin It.

                “I’m glad you liked it. Want to check out some more?” Sofia asked.

                Natalie nodded excitedly. For five hours the girls explored the park, riding “Thunderbolt,” “Mind Eraser,” “Flashback,” “Buzzsaw,” “Crime Wave,” “Twister,” and several others.

                “I’m really glad we did this,” Natalie said quietly once they were in the car on the way home. Her eyed drooped slightly and she bit back a yawn.

                Sofia smiled. “You can sleep, baby. I don’t mind.”

                Natalie yawned openly. “Mmm, love you,” she mumbled, closing her eyes.

                Sofia reached over and squeezed her hand softly. “I love you, too.”

\--

                                The two women had returned nearly an hour before, and Natalie had yet to say a word. Instead she had gone straight to the kitchen and started making homemade chicken vegetable soup. Homemade soup was always a surefire sign of the younger girl being upset. Sofia had waited patiently, knowing that Natalie would talk when she was ready, but eventually she had to break the silence.

                “You were so brave, baby,” she cooed, rubbing circle’s on Natalie’s shoulders. To her surprise, Natalie responded.

                “I wouldn’t exactly call it brave,” she mumbled.

                Sofia guided her into the living room and onto the couch. Natalie pulled her legs up underneath her and curled into Sofia’s side.

                “So, what would you call it?” she asked, stroking Natalie’s hair softly.

                Natalie shrugged. “I just…it was something I had to do. I had to face what he did or I’d never really get over it. And I needed to…” she trailed off.

                “Needed to what?” Sofia prompted.

                “I needed to make sure you wouldn’t reject me afterward. I grew up learning that pain equaled amusement park equaled rejection. I needed to see if you still loved me,” she admitted quietly.

                Sofia’s heart dropped, and she showered Natalie’s face with a flutter of kissed. “Baby, of course I still love you. I would never reject you. Ever. Why would you think that?”

                Natalie shrugged. “There was something I left out when I told you what happened with Mark. I said you were the first person I’d ever told, but that wasn’t quite true. I told my mom right after the first time it happened the first time.”

                “What’d she say?” Sofia asked quietly, already knowing and fearing the answer.

                “She said that I was making it up for attention. She said her husband would never do that to her little girl, and that I must not be her little girl anymore if I was such a liar. I tried to show her, and she put my hand on a hot burner, claiming that I was ‘a very dirty little girl for touching myself like that.’ And then it just became his little tradition. If Mom was out of town, I could count on him sneaking into my room at night. And every time he’d take me to an amusement park the next day. After that, he was back to ignoring me until Mom was out of town again.”

                Tears streamed down Sofia’s face, and Natalie reached up to wipe them away.

                “Don’t cry, Sof,” she pleaded softly.       

                Sofia gave a small smile and kissed her forehead. “You are so strong, baby. So, so strong.”

                Natalie grinned at her. “I have you to thank for that.”

                “Me? What did I do?” Sofia questioned.

                Natalie’s grin grew. “Sof, I spent eleven years wanting to disappear. You know that stupid saying ‘you only live once’? It taunted me everywhere I went. I didn’t want to hear about how I should make the best of things and enjoy life. Then I met you, and I started to heal. And I realized something: you only live once, but when I’m with you, for the first time in my life, I want to live forever.”

The End

© 2013 Megan V------

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my wonderful betas: Amy and Arones.


End file.
